Collapsible plastic container



96 i EMILIO VENTURI 3,

COLLAPS IBLE PLASTIC CONTAINER Fild Oct. 50, 1967 United States Patent 3,424,365 COLLAPSIBLE PLASTIC CONTAINER Emilio Venturi, Via Roma, Concesio, Brescia, Italy Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 479,703, Aug. 13, 1965. This application Oct. 30, 1967, Ser.

No. 678,917 US. Cl. 22930 Int. Cl. B65d 5/30 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention is a continuation-impart of co pending patent application Serial No. 479,703, now US. Patent No. 3,360,180, filed on Aug. 13, 1965, and it is related to synthetic plastic containers suitable for the transportation of articles such as fruits, vegetables, fish and the like. Particularly, this invention concerns synthetic plastic boxes or containers having collapsible walls for storage room saving purposes.

Collapsible containers are not new in the art. However, their structural configuration appears to follow principles which are different from those set forth in the present application. For example, many known containers are composed of disassemblable, but separable component parts, such as sliding walls, removable pins, and the like. Typical of this type of container is the disclosure by T. E. Branscum et al. in US. Patent 3,246,828, where pintles are used to hold the various walls of the collapsible carton together. Thus, even if collapsibility is advantageous, the necessity of separate component parts renders the operation of assembly more cumbersome.

Another principle on which a great variety of containers is based is that of nesting. This is to say, the containers have either rigidly slanted walls or possess movable walls which, by means of slots and pins, can readily pass from a vertical to a diagonal slanted position. This principle allows a plurality of containers to be nested one within the other, thus effecting a saving in storage space. Typical example of this configuration is the shipping box disclosed by B. A. Wabshaw in US. Patent 2,462,693. However, the collapsibility of these containers is limited by the shape and size of the outermost container in the nested plurality.

Other varieties of collapsible containers known in the are require the use of rivets, bolts and nuts, ore permanently foldable tabs, or necessitate the forced bending and distortion of the walls of the container in order to engage the slots of one side with the rimers of the adjacent side. This last principle of assembly limits, of necessity, the material employable as container to cardboard or light flexible plastic and therefore limits the use of the container to very light loads.

Briefly stated, the present invention concerns collapsible containers which are suitable for heavy loads such as fruit, fish, and the like; are fully collapsible so as to afford a considerable savings in storage volume; are free from separate and easily misplaceable component parts; and are uncomplicated in their assembly and disassembly operation.

These and other advantages of the device of the invention will be apparent from the following details of the "ice embodiments thereof and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a first embodiment of the invention, in which two adjoining walls of the container are assembled;

FIGURE 2 shows another embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 3 represents still another variance of the invention; and

FIGURE 4 is a sectional representation of the container of FIGURE 3, taken along lines A-A.

The container of the present invention consists of a bottom and four vertical sides or walls. No cover or lid is necessary for this type of container, because of its particular use. However, if desired, any loose-fitting type of cover may be employed. The walls of the container, for clearer visualization, may be divided into two pairs, each of them being perpendicularly set with respect to the other, composed of two parallel walls, and hinged to the bottom of the container in a known manner. Reference is herein made to the copending application Ser. No. 479,703, now US. Patent No. 3,360,180, FIGURES 1 and 2.

With reference to the drawings, only one wall of each pair is shown, namely at numerals 2 and 3, since it is deemed suflicient to show in detail the method of connecting the vertical walls of the container.

Since the walls 2 and 3 of the container are hinged to the bottom thereof so as to open up in an outwardly direction and be enabled to lie flat in the plane of the bottom of the container, the walls must be so engaged to each other to prevent disengagement when a lifting force is applied to the container, which force, as it is well known, generally has the main vector directed vertically, but has also a secondary vector directed diagonally with respect to the main vector.

Observing FIGURE 1 of the drawings, it can be seen that both walls 2 and 3 have curved terminal edges (indicated at 5) that of wall 2 being somewhat L-shaped, while that of wall 3 is U-shaped. The wall 3 contains (not shown) an opening suitably centered and positioned therein for carrying the container; consequently, wall 3 has the U- shaped configuration which overcomes any outwardly or inwardly directed disengaging force. The figure shows the walls 2 and 3 in assembled position. To disassemble the container, wall 2 is disengaged by forcing it free toward the inside of the container (away from the viewer) and, subsequently, the walls 2 and 3 are brought to a flat position by folding them outwardly along the hinged horizontal bottom edge thereof (not shown) in accordance with well-known manners. The terminal lips of the U-shaped edge of wall 3 and the L-shaped edge of wall 2 are slightly bent, as readily seen at 5, so that a positive engagement may be obtained when the container is assembled. This feature increases the sturdiness of the assembly, while at the same time obviating the need of retaining auxiliary fasteners.

For particular uses which do not require extremely heavy loads, but can readily benefit of a somewhat larger volume, the container of FIGURE 2 may be employed. In this variance, walls 2 and 3 are assembled by means of longitudinal dove-tail type terminals. The assembly is readily accomplished by lodging head 6 of wall 2 firmly into seat 7 of wall 3. Again, the size of the head 6 is somewhat larger than the size of the seat 7, so that a certain degree of force is required to assemble the container. If desired, for additional safety and strength, an outer belt 8 may be employed. This is placed in preformed guiding rails (not shown) and has the purpose of widening the end use of the container.

Still another structural configuration is shown in FIG- URES 3 and 4 of the drawings. The container has two of its four walls, for example walls 2, providing the lateral edges thereof with a plurality of rimers 9 with a bulbous head 10 and expansion cuts 11. The other two walls 3 have a plurality of cuts 12 provided therein and matching the corresponding rimers. The rimers are seated forcibly in the cuts 12 for greater rigidity of the assembled container. 'If so desired, the cuts 12 in walls 3 need not be uniform in width, but may be provided with a terminal bulbous opening similar to the seat 7 shown in FIGURE 2. This would assist even more in retaining the rimers 9 firmly engaged in the cuts 12. However, this is not mandatory, due to the expansion of the bulbous head 10 which exercised sufficient pressures to keep walls 2 and 3 firmly engaged to each other even with simple, straight horizontal cuts 12.

Additional variants to the above-described one are possible without departing from the spirit and goal of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a heavy duty collapsible plastic container which includes four vertical side walls hingedly joined to a bottom floor, improved resilient means releasably coupling adjacent vertical edges of adjacent side walls consisting of first interfitting means integral with each of the vertical edges of two of the side walls, second interfitting means integral with each of the vertical edges of the two other side walls and means integral with said first and second interfitting means to cause an interlock therebetween whereby said first and second interfitting means resist movement of the side walls in a direction perpendicular to the planes thereof.

2. The coupling means in accordance with claim 1 wherein said first and second interfitting means are U- shaped channels.

3. The coupling means in accordance with claim 2 wherein said U-shaped channels extend substantially the entire length of the vertical edges of the side walls.

4. The coupling means in accordance with claim 1 wherein said first interfitting means are arcuate cavities and said second interfitting means are arcuate surfaces.

5. The coupling means in accordance with claim 4 wherein said arcuate cavities and said arcuate surfaces extend substantially the entire length of the vertical edges of the side walls.

6. The coupling means in accordance with claim 4 wherein there is further included a removable retaining band positioned about the outer surface of the side walls.

7. The coupling means in accordance with claim 6 wherein there is further included track means integral with the side walls to locate said band.

8. The coupling means in accordance with claim 1 wherein said first interfitting means is comprised of a plurality of rimers each of which includes a bulbous head and an expansion cut and said second interfitting means is comprised of an equal plurality of cuts.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,023,577 4/ 1912 List et al.

3,148,822 9/1964 Yochum 2293.5 X 3,149,747 9/ 1964 Burgess 220 3,246,828 4/ 1966 Branscum et al 22930 3,360,180 12/ 1967 Venturi 2206 X DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

